Pakistan, ISAF discuss border coordination

Islamabad, May 12: Senior Pakistani and ISAF commanders met in the garrison city of Rawalpindi Saturday and discussed “operations in border areas and coordination mechanisms to avoid untoward incidents”, the military said.

General John Allen, ISAF commander in Afghanistan, led the delegation in talks with Pakistan Army delegation, led by army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, a military statement said, reported Xinhua.

The delegation is visiting Pakistan in connection with a trilateral meeting between military authorities of Pakistan, Afghanistan and ISAF.

The meeting is a continuation of the series of regular meetings held under the tripartite Commission framework.

Talks will focus on enhancing efficiency of border coordination measures along the Pak-Afghan border and to improve multilateral mechanisms at operational and tactical levels, an earlier statement of the military said.

General Sher Muhammad Karimi, chief of General Staff of Afghan National Army, will head the Afghan delegation.

Sources said that the issue of the closure of NATO supply route by Pakistan is likely to come under discussion.

Islamabad closed land route for NATO forces in Afghanistan in November 2011 after a NATO airstrike on its border posts, which resulted in the killing of 24 soldiers.

The meeting is the first after the last month’s parliamentary approval of guidelines for future relationship with the United States.

The parliament had called for halt to US drone strikes in the country’s tribal regions, but the call was rejected by the US.